The invention relates to the field of antibodies, immunology, infectious diseases, and medicine.
Pathogenic bacteria are a substantial cause of sickness and death in both humans and animals. Prominent among these is Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Infection with these gram-positive cocci often results in the development of a superficial abscess. Other cases of S. aureus infection are more serious. For example, intrusion of S. aureus into the lymphatics and blood, can lead to a systemic infection which, in turn, can cause complications such as endocarditis, arthritis, osteomyelitis, pneumonia, septic shock and even death.
Streptococci also cause a large number of infections in humans and animals. Although many infections with streptococci are mild in nature, others can result in profound illness. Diseases associated with streptococcal infection include superficial cutaneous infections, pharyngitis, tonsilitis, impetigo, erysipelas, scarlet fever, urinary tract infections, endocarditis, acute rheumatic fever, acute glomerulonephritis, necrotizing fasciitis, and bacteremia. Severe cases of streptococcal infection can also lead to septic shock and death.
For most of this century, standard treatment for bacterial infections has been antibiotic therapy. Unfortunately, over the last several decades, several pathogenic strains of bacteria have developed resistance to various antibiotics. Worse, some of these strains have acquired resistance to multiple antibiotics. The advent of methicillin-resistant S. aureus in the last decade is perhaps the most significant example of this phenomenon. Vancomycin has thus become the antibiotic of choice for treating methicillin-resistant S. aureus infections. Recently, S. aureus strains displaying intermediate resistance to vancomycin have emerged. MMWR, 46:813-815, 1997.